HeroDistrict

Captain America is the golden boy of Marvel Comics. He stands for all that is good, and he has been that way since his inception in comics. It is hard not to like a guy whose first appearance featured a cover of him socking Hitler in the jaw. Since then, Marvel has pumped out some truly classic Captain America storylines, such as the one that featured him being turned into a werewolf. In honor of Joe Simon, one of the late creators of Captain America, we will be taking a look at the Marvel Legends First Appearance Captain America. If only the toymakers had decided to honor Simon as well by making a better action figure. Check out my review below:

The DC Universe Classics line of action figures has been around for a while and put out numerous figures of pretty much every DC character you can think of. These 6″ action figures generally feature good detail, decent articulation, and very comic accurate appearances. One of my favorite figures from this line is the one we will be taking a look at today: Sinestro Corps Mongul. This larger figure features great detail and stays true to one of the coolest villains in comics today. I’m looking forward to see how Mongul stacks up in the new Green Lantern comics, but for now you can enjoy the review of this action figure below.

How many people remember Beast Wars? I was reminded of that series a week or so ago when I was sorting through a box of comics with a friend and we came across some IDW Beast Wars comics. For those unfamiliar with this awesomeness, Beast Wars was a Transformers series where all the robots turned into animals instead of vehicles. Optimus Prime became the gorilla, Optimus Primal and Megatron remained Megatron and turned into a badass tyrannosaurus rex. I need to pick that figure up. Megatron always seems to have the coolest vehicle/animal modes. Anyways, my nostalgia led me to pick up some Beast Wars figures, one of which is Drill Bit, the Predacon bore weevil Transformer. Check out my review of this figure below:

There have been numerous incarnations of the Hulk over the years. He started out gray, then he became green, sometimes he is smart, but usually not so much. One of my favorite versions of the Hulk is Joe Fixit. Basically he is every dickish aspect of Bruce Banner’s personality put into a giant gray Hulk body. Joe Fixit found his place in Las Vegas, where he worked as a sort of enforcer. He spent his days being paid to beat the crap out of people and spent his spare time hitting on the showgirls. In other words, Joe Fixit is awesome. The Hulk Classics toy line came out with a 6″ scale version of Joe Fixit that lives up to the reputation of the character. If you need a muscle bound Las Vegas thug to add to your toy collection, you can’t go wrong with this guy.

We are getting close to the holiday season and, much like radio stations and convenience stores everywhere, I’m going to get in on the action a month early. As a special treat for Hero District readers, today’s review will cover three action figures for triple the Sunday dose. We will be looking at figures for Juggernaut, Lizard, and Iron Spider-Man. Obviously they were picked for their Christmas colors, Iron Spider-Man for red, Lizard for green, and Juggernaut for being awesome. They are all great characters, but how do the action figure representations stack up? Check out the video below and see if they would make a better gift for a friend or an enemy.

The new Green Lantern animated series recently debuted on Cartoon Network, and I think I have another show I’ll be tuning in to. The many previews didn’t get me too excited for the premiere, but the first two episodes were actually quite entertaining. They weren’t on par with Batman the Animated Series or anything, but they definitely held my interest.

First off, I really dislike the animation style used. All the animation looks computer generated and is real blocky. It reminds me of the designs used for those Super Hero Squad toys. Everybody is kind of squat and chunky, and I’m just not a fan of the way it looks. I guess little kids like that style, as Super Hero Squad has been doing very well, so it does make sense that Cartoon Network would choose this design, especially since the show is geared toward a younger audience. Still, I don’t like it and little kids smell funny.

Now for the positives. I think they captured Hal Jordan’s personality just right. He’s arrogant, and a ladykiller. In the first episode alone he lays down the charm on Carol Ferris and woos a sentient AI system on a spaceship. That’s the Hal Jordan we all know and love. Most importantly, this rendition of Hal is also brave and heroic, breaking all sorts of rules, and skipping out on dates, to save his fellow Green Lanterns. The addition of Kilowog to the adventure was just icing on the cake. They were entertaining enough together to draw me into the episode.

Unfortunately there was a disappointing lack of Kilowog using the word “poozer”.

The story itself was also pretty enjoyable. Without giving too much away, the first two episodes deal with Green Lanterns patrolling the borders of their territory being killed by Red Lanterns. That’s right, the series opened with straight up murder. It was shown off screen, but there was no doubt that the Green Lantern was killed, which is definitely a bold move by a show marketed to a younger audience. I liked it. The only drawback is that I couldn’t take the Red Lanterns too seriously as villains because they looked so adorable, especially Zilius Zox. He didn’t look like a killer, unless he cuddled that Green Lantern to death. Still, Hal and Kilowog decided to hunt down the Red Lanterns, not everything goes according to plan, and they die too. Alright, I made that last part up, but you’ll just have to watch the episode yourself if you want to find out what happens.

The adorable Zilius Zox actually eats everybody.

It’s not a great show, but you won’t hate yourself for watching it. If you are already a fan of Green Lantern you should definitely check it out. If you’re not, it’s still pretty fun. The official score of the premiere episodes is a 6/10. There’s definitely room for improvement, but it shows promise.

Colossus has always been one of my favorite X-Men. He is a big old softy from Russia who is always trying to do what’s right. And he can turn into living metal and bench press an airplane. It is interesting to see how writers handle his softer and more quieter side, and then see how he can tear people apart when they get on his bad side. That is why the Marvel Legends Colossus has been on my wish list for a while now. I have plenty of the other X-Men, but my collection wouldn’t be complete without Colossus. Check out my review on this figure below.

The original Thundercats cartoon was pretty successful, in that it promoted a line of toys still highly valued by collectors and a decent comic book. Then again, it also gave us Snarf, the most annoying thing in the world other than He-Man’s Orko.

Snarf and Orko are both the worst.

I still have fond memories of the original series. In fact, I think the success of James Cameron’s Avatar is directly related to males’ weird attraction to feline-like females caused by watching Thundercats, more specifically by watching Cheetara. The good news is the new Thundercats series on Cartoon Network is living up to the standards set by the original, and even surpassing it.

This is how you do cat people, James Cameron. Take notes.

I’m sure there are people who live and die by the original Thundercats series, but I am really enjoying the new one. The costumes are less homoerotic and more fitting for some butt-whooping cat people, the stories have been good, and even the anime inspired animation style has grown on me. And yes, Cheetara is still confusing young men everywhere, as it should be. Perhaps the best thing about the new series is how it pays homage to the original. Especially the recent “Berbils” episode. The original Berbils episode is well known amongst Thundercats fans, and the new one pays homage to it. The storyline is basically the same, just updated and arguably more entertaining. That actually sums up the series pretty well. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend you check it out. We can only hope that some awesome comics follow this series shortly.

Deadpool is, at least in my opinion, one of the best comic characters ever created. He kicks ass, cracks jokes, and is 100% pure entertainment. It is hard to not have fun while reading a Deadpool story. Some of the best involve Deadpool trying to join the X-Men, despite the fact he isn’t a mutant. Of course he is often rebuked, but that doesn’t keep him from being an X-Man in his own eyes. He even has a team uniform! This makes it awesome that the Marvel Legends toy line actually made a variant Deadpool action figure in that X-Men uniform. Check it out below.

Uncanny X-Force is one of the best comics out right now, mainly because it has one of the best rosters of comic characters ever assembled. It is pretty hard to not be entertaining when you have Deadpool, Wolverine, Archangel, Psylocke, and Fantomex working together. It is no surprise that toy makers would want to build off of the success and popularity of the comic book series, so Diamond Select decided that the team would make a great Minimates box set. The biggest issue is the lack of Fantomex in the box set, but overall it is pretty nice. Check out the review below.